« ‘Settler colonialism is [all] ecological domination’: Kyle Whyte, ‘Settler Colonialism, Ecology, and Environmental Injustice’, Environment and Society, 9, 2018, pp. 125-144
Security is not precarity: Wilfrid Greaves, ‘Damaging Environments: Land, Settler Colonialism, and Security for Indigenous Peoples’, Environment and Society, 9, 2018, pp. 107, 124 »

Solidarity and default white space: Joe Curnow, Anjali Helferty, ‘Contradictions of Solidarity Whiteness, Settler Coloniality, and the Mainstream Environmental Movement’, Environment and Society, 9, 2018, pp. 145-164

16Sep18

Abstract: In this article, we trace the racialized history of the environmental movement in the United States and Canada that has defined the mainstream movement as a default white space. We then interrogate the turn to solidarity as a way to escape/intervene in the racialized and colonial underpinnings of mainstream environmentalism, demonstrating that the practice of solidarity itself depends on these same racial and colonial systems. Given the lack of theorization on solidarity within environmentalism, we draw on examples of solidarity work that bridge place and power and are predicated on disparate social locations, such as in accompaniment or the fair trade movement. We conclude that the contradictions of racialized and colonial solidarity should not preclude settler attempts to engage in solidarity work, but rather become inscribed into environmentalist practices as an ethic of accountability.


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